This is the second (stop saying ‘sophomore’ you pretentious wankers) album from Belgian DM crew Dehuman and is quite an improvement over 2012’s ‘Black Throne of All Creation’. Relentless touring with the likes of Agathocles & Master has paid off and Dehuman are tighter than a Spanish waiters trousers.
Their debut was a bit more ‘meat and potatoes’ slammy death where as this record is much more focussed on savagery and technicality…. Think Malevolent Creation / Vader / Morbid Angel. The band hinted at this sort of ability on their first record but have really spread their wings here with some really unhinged rhythms and bizarrely melodic guitar work. Definitely not your usual everyday death metal band and even more impressive given that the band are all in their 20’s.
The production (by Francis Caste) is far superior to the debut with a great drum sound. The songwriting has definitely been dialled up with faster and more technical tracks and totally shredding solos (check out the solo on ‘Ov Madness’).
I’ve mentioned Morbid Angel as an influence, which is no bad thing of course and the comparisons are fairly obvious. But don’t think Dehuman are ripping off Evil D and the boys because they’re most definitely their own band with some really memorable tunes – opener ‘Sepulcher Of Malevolence’ being a great example with it’s relentless break neck riffing before slowing down into a really sludgy part then taking off again. Very ‘Domination’ era MA.
This is a very solid record from a really proficient band. If you’re a fan of classic – yet modern sounding death metal then this classy album should be right up your dirty slime infested alley!
(8/10 Mark Eve)
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